Power of the Spoken Word

Watching Biden and Harris get inaugurated this week was an amazing feeling, more out of relief than anticipation, but amazing nonetheless. For me at least, the highlight of the day was Amanda Gorman’s performance of her poem “The Hill We Climb”.

The poetry was beautiful, and her performance was honestly triumphant (and I really mean it because I would normally never use a word like “triumphant”). I was kind of stunned, not just because she’s so young, and delivered with such confidence, but also because I still remember Barack Obama’s inaugural poem from 2009, and it was not nearly so impressive.

So when I heard Gorman straight up crush it, riding the rises and falls of her words, and pulling together insight and meaning in unexpected ways without harping or hammering on it, I was awestruck. There were so many elegant truth-bombs in there it gave me chills.

“We've learned that quiet isn't always peace”

“Somehow we've weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn't broken

but simply unfinished”

…

“Then victory won't lie in the blade

But in all the bridges we've made

That is the promise to glade

The hill we climb

If only we dare

It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,

it's the past we step into

and how we repair it”

Just beautiful. Full text here.

All that said, the poet in me must be magnanimous, and I don’t think the text of the poem is perfect; I mean, of course nothing is perfect, but if I give an honest judgement of the text itself, then I believe there are some lines that could be stronger here and there, some images or ideas that don’t come through as clearly as they could.

For instance, I really love this line: “That even as we grieved, we grew”

But I don’t like the preceding line that it rhymes with, “Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true”. This line doesn’t really hold any meaning on its own, it’s just a set up for the next line. And it’s not like that’s such a terrible thing, but it’s just a weak point that could be stronger.

I also thought her descriptions of the different parts of the country were too simplistic; “windswept northeast” and “sunbaked south” are kind of lack-luster.

I could nit-pick about a few other places where I think the phrasing could be sounder, but the funny thing is, the slightly unpolished nature of the poem fits very well with its own theme, as per one of my favorite stanzas:

 “And yes we are far from polished

far from pristine

but that doesn't mean we are

striving to form a union that is perfect

We are striving to forge a union with purpose”

Furthermore, spoken word performances don’t always benefit from a completely streamlined text. In a performance you need space, you need places to slow down before you speed up, you need a rhythm that moves and changes, and you don’t want to layer the language so thick that the listeners can’t follow the logic.

There’s also the fact that this was a poem meant for the entire country to hear, not just literature nerds like me, so it seems perfectly appropriate that the rhyme scheme is generally simple and straightforward, and that the text leans somewhat towards conversational prose rather than pure distilled poetry.

I do love the few lines where she gets more surreal and symbolic, like here:

“Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,

we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one

We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,”

And I love that the end is not a declaration, but a challenge:

“When day comes we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid

The new dawn blooms as we free it

For there is always light,

if only we're brave enough to see it

If only we're brave enough to be it”

All in all, it was an incredible performance and a beautiful message, and I know I’m not the only one who was inspired by it.

In the interest of fair assessment, I went back and read Obama’s inaugural poem, written and performed by Elizabeth Alexander. And I’m afraid that it did not hold up any better this time than it did in my memory. Full text.

I am a little biased against poetry that doesn’t rhyme, so that certainly affects my feelings, but the bigger problem was that I had a hard time finding the flow. The poem feels confused about itself, like a jumble of vague themes.

I think that it wants to show a variety of American perspectives and then bind them together with a message of always moving forward. On some level this works, and there are some good lines:

“Say it plain: that many have died for this day.”

“Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign, the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.”

But most of it feels like fragments of ideas just kind of stuck together, like this stanza smack between two totally unrelated stanzas:

“We encounter each other in words, words

spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,

words to consider, reconsider.”

I am certainly not trying to disrespect the author here, I only want to criticize this poem as a poem, and use it to contrast with Amanda Gorman’s amazing piece. Alexander’s poem reached for something deep, but didn’t really get there, and seemed to take no joy in doing so. Gorman’s poem is full of energy, with a relentless flow not just in its rhythm but in its imagery and metaphors too, it’s all one flow that leads to its final ringing question.

Gorman’s poem was so good that it makes for an unintentionally hilarious contrast to Biden’s own ham-fisted monologue. And don’t get me wrong, it was a tear-jerkingly enormous relief to hear the president talk like a human being again, to hear a message of empathy and acceptance, and to hear some honesty about the problems our society faces.

On the downside however, the speech insisted on some outrageously lofty goals, and made more than a few erroneous claims—I mean really? “We have never ever ever ever failed”? The fuck, are you serious?

But the grandstanding and manic optimism were expected. The thing that actually disappointed me about his speech was that it sounded like it was written by a 7th grader. The language was so freakin’ basic, it was the kids’ menu version of a presidential speech. Full text.

“Few people in our nation’s history have been more challenged or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we’re in now.”

Was writing this speech challenging? Difficult? Difficult and challenging?

“It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Not ever.”

If you just keep repeating the word “ever” it makes your speech stronger, right?

I know I shouldn’t be a dick about it, and it’s true I’m cherry picking the worst lines here. In general I liked the message of the speech, and it can’t be overstated how refreshing of a change it is from what came before. I’m just upset by the continuous dumbing down of our whole society, but that’s a topic for another time.

Anyway what do you think? Did you like the inaugural poem? Did you cry at some point on the 20th? Am I being too hard on Old Man Joe? Let me know in the comments!

Peace,

Gibbles